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Dock Area Tasks

Use these guides when you need to add widgets to a Dock Area or manage Dock Area profiles.

If you are new to the Dock Area itself, start with 06 Create Your First GUI. If you are new to working with profiles, continue with Dock Area Profiles.

Choose the right task

Situation Use this guide What it changes
You want to add another tool to the current Dock Area. Add Widgets to a Dock Area Creates a widget and places it in the current Dock Area.
You want to use a different saved layout now. Switch Dock Area Profiles Loads another profile into the current Dock Area.
The profile exists, but it is missing from the toolbar selector. Toggle Dock Area Profile Quick Selection Shows or hides the profile in the quick selector without deleting it.
The active profile has local layout changes you want to discard. Restore a Dock Area Profile to Its Baseline Replaces the runtime profile with its saved baseline.
A local profile is no longer useful. Delete a Dock Area Profile Removes the writable local profile from the profile manager.
Another e-account or beamline deployment needs the same profile. Share a Dock Area Profile with Other Accounts Copies the profile directly or adds it to the plugin repository.

Common Dock Area workflow

Most Dock Area work follows this order:

  1. Create an initial Dock Area in 06 Create Your First GUI.
  2. Add widgets manually or with BEC IPython commands.
  3. Save useful layouts as profiles with the Dock Area Profiles tutorial.
  4. Switch between profiles during normal work.
  5. Adjust quick selection so the toolbar only shows the profiles you use often.
  6. Restore a profile when runtime changes should be discarded.
  7. Share useful profiles before deleting local copies.

The profile manager is the safest place to inspect profile metadata before changing or deleting a profile.

Learning material